


Trusting Angels

by Freya_Kendra



Series: The Dime Novel Rescue [3]
Category: Bonanza
Genre: Angst, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freya_Kendra/pseuds/Freya_Kendra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Series: Wounded, trapped in the desert and surrounded by a renegade band of Bannocks, Paiutes and Shoshones, Adam and Joe prepare for death, unaware of the unfolding chain of tiny miracles that is setting them up for an improbable, last-minute rescue.</p><p>This story: Hoss gives thought to the odd but fortunate delays that kept him and his pa close enough to take part in an improbable moment of rescue right when Adam and Joe needed them most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trusting Angels

**Trusting Angels**

**XxXxX**

**_Hoss_ **

I’m scared.

Ain’t nothin’ to be scared about. Not no more. But I am. I’m scared about what might have been I reckon...what maybe even almost was.

A couple of those cavalry men are getting Joe seen to, and Pa’s over there makin’ sure it’s done right. He’ll be okay. He has to be. I got to focus on Adam now. He’s sittin’ right here in front of me and he’s still alive, too. He’s quiet now. I guess he…he’s passed out. But…what he said a minute ago….

_“He’s dead, isn’t he?”_

Ain’t much in this world as worrisome as seein’ my brother, Adam, cry. It was so worrisome when he did that I half want to cry, too. But I can’t. I won’t. Strange, though. Almost as worrisome as seein’ Adam cry was seein’ the way those tears of his stopped as soon as I said Joe was with the medic.

 _“Then he’s still alive,”_ Adam reckoned.

 _Of course, he is. And he’s gonna stay that way_.  I wanted to say all’a that, but I couldn’t…on account of the fact I was scared. I _am_ scared.

That wound in Adam’s leg sure needs tendin’ to. I’ll do what I can, and that medic’ll help me when he’s done takin’ care of Joe. I gotta keep tellin’ myself they’re both still alive.

XxXxX

Adam don’t need that gun in his lap no more, does he? The fighting’s over now.

“Joe!” Adam’s voice is soft when I pick up his gun. It makes me jump just the same. His eyes ain’t open, but it’s clear he’s still worryin’, still figurin’ it’s just him and Joe up here against more Indians with more weapons than they could hope to fight. I’m sure he don’t like the idea of someone takin’ his gun.

“Easy, Adam.” I keep my voice soft, too.

He’s heard me; I can tell that. He stops fightin’ his own self…sort of turns his face toward me…but he’s keepin’ his eyes closed.

“It’s alright, Adam. You gotta trust me. Those Indians are gone now. Ain’t nothin’ to worry about.”

He lets out a long breath I never even saw him take in. That gets me scared all over again.

 _Ain’t nothin’ to worry about_ , I tell myself. But it’s hard to reckon.

When I first came up that path and saw Adam and Joe sittin’ together, facing me, with Adam holdin’ onto Joe, lettin’ Joe lean up against him like…well, like…like it was the only thing he had left to do…I could tell Adam knew he couldn’t protect our little brother anymore. Maybe he even thought Joe was already dead. Joe wasn’t conscious. He wasn’t moving. I didn’t even know if he was still breathin’, not just then. But…Adam’s eyes lit on mine and…. I ain’t never seen that look in his eyes before. I don’t know what it was. Surprise, maybe. But more than that….

It’s like I can hear Adam reading to us from that book again, that one about the great whale, _Moby Dick_. “ _Through its inexpressible, strange eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God. As Abraham before the angels, I bowed myself_ ….”

I guess that’s what I saw in Adam’s eyes right then. I saw somethin’ of that Ishmael fella in that moment of awe when he first laid eyes on an albatross in a storm. And maybe Adam did see some of the secrets of God right then…not in my eyes, but…in me showin’ up just then, me and Pa and all them troops from Corporal Rogers’ cavalry patrol and Lieutenant Hayes’ reinforcements.

 _“God works in mysterious ways.”_ Mrs. Olverson said that after Private Johnson first found Pa and me still camped out with her and her husband. That private told us Cochise and Champ had wound up in their camp, lathered and skittish. And there was blood on Champ’s saddle.

 _“We knew they were your sons’ horses right off,”_ the private said. _“That pinto has mighty distinct markings. After we met up with you folks on the trail the other day, we sure couldn’t mistake him. Why I—”_

 _“Get to the point, man!”_ Pa shouted back at him.

 _“A band of renegades has someone trapped up in the rocks back in the desert,”_ Private Campbell told Pa. _“We’re pretty sure it’s your sons. Corporal sent us to Austin to find you folks, to make sure it’s just two a’you out there and not all four. But that man in town, Colburn, said you’d split up. I figured we’d try to reach you, even though it wasn’t too likely. I sure never expected to meet up with you so soon. It’s a mighty st—”_

Pa wasn’t much listening anymore. _“Renegades? Are you sure?”_

_“Yes, sir. We been hearin’ reports about ‘em—a group of Paiutes, Bannocks and Shoshones that joined together when their tribes withdrew after Pyramid Lake. Haven’t seen hide nor hair of ‘em, though. Leastwise not ‘til now. But they’re out there, sure enough. One of our scouts came on ‘em shooting up into the rocks.”_

Just before we rode off with that private, that’s when Mrs. Olverson said what she did. _“God works in mysterious ways.”_

It almost seems like maybe she was right. Maybe God’s work’s what kept delayin’ us. While my brothers were talkin’ about timber in Austin and then gettin’ pinned down by a bunch of riled up renegades, Pa and me were gettin’ delayed in ways we could never have expected…a loose wagon wheel, a baby, and then finally a lame horse that shouldn’t have been lame at all.

But if it was the Lord’s doin’, keeping us close to Austin all that time, why did He let us leave my brothers at all?

I don’t know. I sure don’t. All I do know is what I saw in Adam’s eyes when we come upon him just now. I could see he hadn’t expected any help. He couldn’t have expected anything other than…. Well, he must’ve thought he and Joe were gonna…gonna die up here together.

I feel like I’ve got a big old chunk of dry bread sitting in my gullet. I try to swallow it…but it doesn’t want to stay down.

I can’t imagine thinkin’ what they had to be thinkin’. Both my brothers had to figure there wasn’t much hope left. They had to figure last minute rescues only happen in dime novels, and this sure ain’t no dime novel.

I shouldn’t be scared. It’s a fool thing to be scared now. The fighting’s over. Half the renegades are gone, the other half, dead. And my brothers are still alive. But, dadburnit, I _am_ scared. I’m scared at how hot Adam is, even though he’s just passed a cold night in the desert. I’m scared of the way that medic is shoutin’ for a hot fire to clean the knife he has to use on Little Joe. And I’m real scared of that odd word Adam whispered just before he went quiet.

_“Adieu.”_

I’d swear that’s what he said. And if I remember right, Marie used to say that whenever she was leavin’ to go somewhere.

Danged if Adam sayin’ that hasn’t scared me even more’n anything else.

But we got here in time. I keep tellin’ myself that over and over again. _We got here in time_.

XxXxX

Since Adam’s quiet again, I check the chamber on his gun. Five bullets. All they had between them and the renegades was five bullets. And Adam’s gun.

That scout who came with Lieutenant Hayes’ when the corporal’s patrol met up with the rest of his regiment—the Indian fella wearin’ a cavalry uniform—he gave me Joe’s gun last night.

 _“Dropped,”_ he told me. _“From above.”_ When he pointed up to these rocks, my heart about dropped down to my knees. Joe would never let go of his gun like that. Not unless he was hurt…or….

Dang that dry bread! I wish clearin’ my throat would be enough to get it out’a there. But I reckon it’s gonna stay put until we get my brothers out’a _here_.

One gun and five bullets. Against twenty renegades. That’s kind’a like goin’ up against a whale with a rowboat and a tomahawk.

Strange thing that…me out here in the middle of the desert thinkin’ about whales. I reckon it was that Mr. Olverson who got me thinkin’ this way.

The day before yesterday—funny…I hardly even know what happened to yesterday—Pa and me, when we were stuck there on that road out of Austin, Nevada, we were talkin’ about whales and sailin’ and fishin’ with Emil and Hilda Olverson…folks we’d never met before, but…now it almost feels like they’re old friends. We were doin’ that while my brothers were fightin’ for their lives right here, not twenty miles away.

We were laughin’ while they were out here facing….

No. Don’t think like that. We got here in time. That’s what matters now. Pa and I got here right when my brothers needed us most. Everything’s turned out just like it should. …Even though if everything had gone the way it was _supposed_ to, Pa and me wouldn’t be here at all. We’d be home.

But that ain’t right, either, is it? If everything had gone the way it _should_ , we’d _all_ be home by now. None of this would’ve ever had to happen. Pa and me, shucks…only reason we split up was ‘cause’a that dadblamed Mr. Buell.

Doggone him, anyway! He shouldn’t have been out’a town just then! He was supposed to be there when we delivered his cattle. He should’a been there…not just to take delivery, but also to talk to Pa about timber for all the building he’s got to do in that new town of his. But he wasn’t there.

 _“He’ll be in on tomorrow’s stage,”_ that fella, Colburn, said. _“If you could just wait until then….”_

Pa sure was angry. Almost as angry as Joe was happy. Pa just wanted to get on home.  Maybe Adam and I weren’t as set on stayin’ as Joe, but we weren’t as eager as Pa to hit the trail again, either. A saloon in a tent is still a saloon, and them miners were havin’ a whole lot of fun in them tented saloons.

But… Dangnammit! Whatever we were gonna do, we should’a done it together! If we hadn’t drawn straws to see who would wait for Mr. Buell and who would go on home…if we’d all stayed…or we’d all left….  There should’a been four of us fightin’ off those renegades instead’a just two. And if there’d been four of us, then maybe Adam and Joe wouldn’t be as bad off as they are right now. But there weren’t four of us, because Pa and I rode for home.

We rode for home, dadburnit!

Yeah, we rode for home…but we didn’t make it too far did we? Things kept gettin’ in the way of us gettin’ home. First, helping the Olversons. And then Buck goin’ lame. I wonder if it was angels or fate or…something…that kept us from goin’ too far. It’s like maybe…maybe they wanted us to be close enough to get here now.

But…seein’ Mr. Olverson…Emil…fightin’ with that wagon wheel like he was…. Would an angel make him do that? We couldn’t just keep goin’. We couldn’t ride on by and leave him to wrastle with it by himself, especially with his wife pregnant as she was.

I sure didn’t expect to lose most of the mornin’ helpin’ him though. And by the time we got his wagon back on the road, that meal Hilda was cookin’ up sure had my belly anxious for a taste of it. I wasn’t in any kind of hurry no more, that’s for sure, when she said we ought to share a meal for our troubles.

Our troubles. That’s what she said. But it wasn’t any trouble helpin’ with that wheel. This here’s much bigger trouble than we could ever imagine having. And this sure wasn’t the Olverson’s fault.

Could’a been angels, I reckon. But maybe they were more worried about keepin’ us there for the Olverson’s troubles than our own. Right when we were finally ready to go, after that fine meal, Mrs. Olverson was ready, too. Her baby wasn’t gonna wait ‘til they got to Austin like they’d planned.

Emil tellin’ us he’s a doctor made Pa and me both feel better about the fact that a baby was about to be born right there on that road. But we sure couldn’t leave ‘em.

XxXxX

It’s somethin’ how long it takes some babies to get born. As anxious as that baby seemed to be at first, he got dadburned stubborn after that. It was past sundown by the time the Olversons and their new son were settled. We lost a whole day out there with them Olversons.

And I thank Heaven for that. Maybe it was angels that helped make sure we were there for the Olversons. But those same angels also made sure we were there to get that message from Private Johnson. ‘Cause they weren’t done with us just then, either.

Even though the sun was gone, Pa and I were both anxious to get movin’. It was kind’a odd though, how Pa was so fired up about gettin’ home and I wanted to go back to Austin. Why’d I want to do that? I don’t know. I really don’t. I just…it seemed important that we get back to Adam and Joe. Maybe Pa had that same feelin’. He was just tryin’ to fight it because it didn’t make any sense.

It was like we both knew Adam and Joe were gonna need our help. Like maybe angels were whisperin’ in both our ears. We just didn’t know how to hear ‘em right.

Maybe the Olversons heard better than we did. When they told us they were namin’ their son Benjamin Eric Olverson for Pa and me…well, it didn’t much matter about where we should go after that. We didn’t go anywhere at all that night. The Olversons seemed pleased to have us stay with them. Pa and I were awful pleased right then, too.

If we’d known this was gonna happen, we wouldn’t have had to argue about where to go at all.

No. I can’t think like that. We couldn’t have known. And besides, I’m pretty sure Joe and Adam would have been pleased about where they were right then, too. They’d have been sharin’ beer and whiskey with miners in a tented saloon. So maybe it’s not a bad thing Pa and I were out there with the Olversons, listenin’ to the caterwaulin’ of a baby named for us and sharin’ coffee and stories about the sea.

Kind of funny when I think about it. We were out there in the middle of the desert talkin’ about the sea. Maybe Adam and Joe will find it funny, too…soon as I get a chance to tell ‘em. And I will get that chance. Them angels wouldn’t have made so doggone sure we got here just in time if they were gonna take either of my brothers now. They can’t take ‘em now. Wouldn’t be right.

_“God works in mysterious ways.”_

Maybe so, but it still wouldn’t be right.

XxXxX

I’ll never forget the funny look Pa got in his eyes the first time he heard Hilda Olverson talk. It was like he was lookin’ somewhere deep inside his head. Then he smiled and said she sounded like my mother…and then I liked the idea of listenin’ to her talk, too. They weren’t from Sweden, though. They came from Norway, from a place called Bergen.

Adam would like Emil. Imagine that, Emil bein’ from a family of seamen. I remember thinkin’ Adam should’a been there listenin’ instead of me. I wish…I wish he could’a been. Him and Joe, both. Joe would’a liked those stories, too. Especially the ones about whaling.

I still don’t really understand why Joe keeps sayin’ that Moby Dick book Adam gave him is one of his favorites. Little Joe mostly likes those dime novels, thin books that read easy and always end good. The kind of books that take a man somewhere but don’t make him think. _Moby Dick_ …well, that book ain’t thin. And it sure does make a man think.

Does Joe like that book so much because it’s about somethin’ different from what he’s used to? About somethin’ he don’t ever expect to see for himself? Or is it because…well, because of Adam?

 _“Don’t tell older brother, but when I read this, I like to imagine Adam’s readin’ it out loud, like he did last winter.”_ Joe was right about that. I like to imagine it, too. Especially now.

XxXxX

Adam’s still quiet. He ain’t even stirrin’. I think I got that wound of his clean as I can for now. Maybe Lieutenant Hayes’ medic has some alcohol or somethin’ I could use. But…he sure is busy with Joe.  And the rest of them troopers…. Looks like most of ‘em have gone after the renegades that got away. The others are seein’ to the ones they shot. I just…maybe I’d better just wait a few more minutes. Adam’s okay for now. He’s exhausted, I reckon. After what he and Joe were facin’ last night, I reckon he’s got good reason to be exhausted. He needs to sleep for a while.

Seems odd somehow, needing sleep so much now out here in the desert, and just last winter we all got too much sleep under all that snow. Like two different worlds, almost. Like two different lives, even. But I’d rather have that life. That boredom.

Sure was a long, hard winter. When Joe picked up _Moby Dick_ to pass some time, I thought maybe he’d finally stop pacin’ like a cornered cat. But he only read a couple of pages before settin’ it down again…or throwin’ it down, more like. I remember him complainin’ about how boring it was. He was probably more upset about how bored he was with all that snow outside and not enough to do inside; but what he’d said sure got Adam’s gander up.

When those two started arguin’ like they do, I about wanted to knock some sense into both of ‘em. Then Adam started readin’ out loud. Joe didn’t say anythin’ else after that. None of us did. ‘Cause that book wasn’t boring at all. Not the way Adam read it. He sort of made that story come alive. Took us all in. He read and we listened, and the days didn’t seem so long then.

It took almost two weeks to read the whole book like that.

I think those two weeks passed faster than last night did. And not just for Adam and Joe. But I’m not exhausted. And I sure didn’t take an arrow. Fact is, I’m not even tired.

I guess it’s my turn to feel like a cornered cat. Ain’t nothin’ I can do but wait. But it’s okay, because I know my brothers are safe now. They’re safe, and they’re gonna be just fine. I just…I just wish they’d both wake up…wake up just enough to let me see for sure that they can…that they _will_.

XxXxX

Dangnammit, already! Why can’t I stop feelin’ so scared? Ain’t nothin’ to be scared of anymore.

It’s that scout, I reckon. That Indian who calls himself Abraham. He’s part of the cavalry. He ain’t one of the renegades. But…he _is_ one of them, in a way. He shares their blood, don’t he? And those eyes of his…they like to pierce right into you, like he can see what’s inside. Like last night, when he found Joe’s gun. He knew how it tore me up inside to see that. He knew what to say about it, too.

_“Your brothers yet live.”_

_“We can’t know that for sure,”_ I told him. Because we couldn’t know. Not really.

 _“We can.”_ He said it like he knew. Like he _could_ know. Like maybe the angels whispered in his ear, too, and he heard ‘em loud and clear. _“They sing to the great spirit because they know they will not all survive when they climb into those rocks at dawn. The first to face your brothers expect to die.”_

It was hard not to believe him, but…I couldn’t. I guess maybe I was too scared to believe him. Listenin’ to those Indian drums out there sure didn’t help none. And seein’ the way them renegades were dancin’ around that fire…. _“Looks like they’re celebratin’, to me.”_

_“Do not trust all you see.”_

We spent last night watchin’ and listenin’ to them Indians, and all I wanted to do was climb up into these rocks and see to my brothers. Then maybe I could trust what I saw. But Lieutenant Hayes said we had to wait for dawn. Abraham agreed. Even Pa….

_“It’s a new moon tonight, Hoss.”_

_“That’s good,”_ I told him. _“It’ll give us better cover. They’ll never see—”_

 _“No, Hoss!”_ Pa sure looked angry then…but I don’t think he was really angry with me. He took a deep breath and when he let it out the edges around his eyes softened up some. _“I won’t risk you…not you, too. Please. Listen to the lieutenant. We’ll strike at dawn. We’ll have surprise…and numbers, in our favor.”_

_“But that’s hours away, yet.”_

_“It’s our best chance…. It’s your brothers’ best chance.”_

_“But, Pa…. What if they’re already hurt? What if…what if waitin’ is gonna hurt ‘em more than help ‘em?”_

Pa didn’t have an answer any more’n I did. _“It’s our best chance,”_ he’d said again. _“I won’t risk you, too.”_

XxXxX

As those hours passed—like a full month in the worst of all winters—I couldn’t help but think it was worth the risk. I was as ready to climb up into them rocks as Joe had been to turn back when Adam was hit.

 _“He should have kept going,”_ Adam told me before he got quiet. He thought Joe should’a left him. If Joe had left him, our little brother wouldn’t be up here now, lookin’ half dead. But Joe leavin’ Adam like that…well, that’d be like…like cuttin’ out his own heart. He couldn’t do it. Joe couldn’t do that any more than I could. Or Adam.

 _“You’d have been proud of him,”_ Adam told me.

He ought to have known better. But I reckon him bein’ hurt and tired like he was, well…. Truth is, I didn’t need to be told what Joe did in order to be proud of him. _“I already am,”_ I said to Adam. _“Always have been. Of both of you.”_

Joe risked his life and I was ready to risk mine, too…but I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t do that to Pa. _“I won’t risk you, too.”_

XxXxX

“Hoss?” Pa’s voice pulls my thoughts. Turns ‘em. And the feel of his hand on my shoulder…it’s like…like…I don’t know. Like all these rocks and all this desert ain’t makin’ a canyon out’a me anymore.

All that from a single touch?

_“God works in mysterious ways.”_

Maybe. Maybe He does.

“Let him see to Adam, Hoss.”

What? Oh. Right. The medic’s here. He’s here for Adam. That means…. “Joe?” My voice sounds like I ain’t talked for weeks...or like I still got that chunk of old bread in my throat.

“He’s resting.”

Gettin’ up makes me feel like an old man. I wonder how Pa must feel. His eyes look…tired. He looks tired, but…better. Yeah. He looks better’n he looked last night.

Abraham’s standin’ behind him, and he’s lookin’ at me again with them piercing eyes of his. _“Do not trust all you see.”_

But I want to trust it! I want to trust that Pa’s lookin’ better, and Adam’s sleepin’ off a bad night, and so is Joe. My brothers are both gettin’ the rest they need. And….

I’m not scared no more.

_“God works in mysterious ways.”_

Yeah. I gotta trust in all of it.

This ain’t a story in a dime novel with a last minute rescue and a good ending. No. it’s better. Because not only did we get here in time, we met a doctor on the road who’s gonna be lookin’ for us in Austin, and who’s gonna give Adam and Joe the finest care they could hope for.

Yep. Sometimes the cavalry really does save the day. And I reckon there must’ve been some Indian somewhere who slew a whale with a tomahawk.

And one gun with five bullets was even more than my brothers needed. Because God really does work in mysterious ways. It’s not for me or anyone else to question those ways. We just gotta go where the angels lead us, and trust in them to get us there in time.

XxXxX

_end_

 

 


End file.
